Jersey City police compromises save 82 jobs and $4 million

Reena Rose SibayanMayor Jerramiah T. Healy speaks at the press conference to announce that the agreement reached by the City and the POBA was approved by its members, at City Hall in Jersey City, on Friday, Jan. 28, 2011. -- Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal

In what the president of the Police Officers Benevolent Association Jerry DiCicco called a "historic" agreement, the Jersey City police have reached a compromise to avert layoffs for 82 cops.

At a joint press conference
with Mayor Jerramiah Healy yesterday morning, DeCicco said that police
officers and the Mayor came together "for the common
good" to avoid police layoffs that have shaken other New
Jersey cities like Newark and Camden.

"It's been a long and difficult couple of
months," DeCicco said.

With the compromise, cops will receive two additional comp days this year and an additional comp day when they retire. They will also undergo a one week "pay lag," which will save the city to the tune of $3.5 million this year. They receive the week's pay when they retire.

Police also agreed to push their yearly 2.75 percent pay increase from January to September, which will save the city an additional several hundred thousand dollars.

Police will not be giving up the $1,300 uniform allowance, which the city was in favor of dropping.